


unsteady.

by fade131



Category: B.A.P
Genre: Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, M/M, also junhong is a swanmane but he doesnt show up here so r r y bYE, pls dont read, this is honestly really stupid and im sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-13
Updated: 2015-09-13
Packaged: 2018-04-20 15:48:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4793303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fade131/pseuds/fade131
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sent into the city, they meet with the lost in need of a pack, a place to call home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	unsteady.

**Author's Note:**

> Written as a fill for last week's [B.A.P Bingo Challenge](http://bapbingochallenge.tumblr.com/) prompt, Blind Date AU. 
> 
> actually really honestly dont read this im ashamed lmao

It’s Joonmyeon who sets them up. He’s Himchan’s contact, one of their few human friends in the city – so when he says he thinks he’s found someone they’ll want to meet, they make time, make plans. The little restaurant is just far enough in from the edge of the city to make Youngjae nervous, skin crawling, but Himchan rests a hand on his knee under the table just for a moment, and he feels himself relax.

They asked for a round table, because Himchan said a booth would make it too much like a job interview, with them on one side and him on the other. Himchan drinks three cups of coffee before he even shows up, nervous, and Youngjae wonders why – he’s done this before, no need to be worried about who they’re meeting, but maybe it’s their location getting to him too.

Daehyun is small – about Youngjae’s height, but there is something about him that makes him seem delicate, from his skinny cheeks to his bony wrists and narrow waist. He smells nervous, shaken, feline, and Youngjae feels an unaccountable surge of protectiveness already. He’s shy, squirming in his seat, fingers dancing regretfully along the edge of the menu until Himchan says it’s their treat. While Himchan talks, Youngjae watches him eat – quickly at first, hungry, and then slow as he realizes it’s too much, the look on his face disconsolate.

When Himchan broaches the topic of him coming with them, Daehyun’s seemingly lax attention snaps away from his food. He stiffens in his seat, eyes darting between them suspiciously.

“Joonmyeon said you just wanted to talk.”

Youngjae folds his hands on the table. “We are only talking.”

“No,” Daehyun says sharply, and his chair scrapes against the floor when he pushes it back. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what he told you about me. I’m fine on my own.”

Himchan’s lips press tight together, but he nods. “Of course.”

Daehyun looks smaller leaving, hunched in on himself, his backpack hanging from one shoulder. Youngjae realizes that his chest feels tight with worry, and he digs in his pocket for his wallet, hoping Himchan won’t notice.

The motel room they booked for the night is little, but it doesn’t bother them much. Or it wouldn’t, only Youngjae can’t rest even curled up in bed with Himchan. He’s warm, and solid, and the scent of their mismatched pack is still there on his skin, but the wolf is pacing under Youngjae’s skin, restless and angry. Out on the walkway the night air is cold on his skin, but it stinks of the city, and Youngjae wants to go home.

He shouldn’t leave, but the night is quiet and still, and Himchan doesn’t need to know. There’s no one on the streets around the motel, and walking helps his thoughts wander. The wolf paces, back and forth, hungry, angry, unwelcome. He wants the forest behind their house. He wants the cool stream and the high waterfall, the scurrying rabbits to chase, the ring of sentinel pines around their meeting place.

A cry cuts the darkness and interrupts his thoughts, yowling, mewling, plaintive, and Youngjae almost forgets not to shift as he takes off down the street. There is a group of boys in an alleyway, something cornered against the far wall, and the crying noise is desperately sad. They run off when he comes near, without a word.

It’s only a kitten, brown and white and black, crouched as far into the corner as it can get. Youngjae comes closer slowly, worried he’ll frighten it – but when he reaches to scoop it up off the cold cement it only squeaks at him, curling into a tiny ball.

The walk back to the motel is silent, and Himchan is awake and waiting.

The kitten panics then, squirming out of Youngjae’s hold when he moves to put it gently on the bed, and hides under the crumpled blankets. Himchan just shakes his head, so Youngjae doesn’t try to explain. He toes off his shoes and climbs back into bed, and once they’ve settled the kitten crawls in between them, warm and soft and purring.

The next day they have another meeting, with an older girl that Youngjae thinks might be some type of bird, and it goes poorly too. Himchan is bored, but they can’t leave yet, and Youngjae is too nervous to explore this corner of the city. They watch tv in their motel room instead, the kitten chasing a piece of string Youngjae unraveled from the fraying edge of the sheets. It eats anything they give it, and Himchan opens the spare cream from his coffee, and it licks the tiny plastic cup clean.

Youngjae wonders if Yongguk will mind the kitten – unlikely, and Himchan who’s the most territorial around other felines already seems to have decided he likes it. When they go out to meet with Yongguk’s brother, the head of one of the bigger packs in the city limits, Youngjae leaves a bowl of water and an open tin of tuna for the kitten. Without knowing quite why, except that he thinks they’ll be gone until late, he leaves money on the table by the door, weighted down with his room key.

The meeting goes well enough, although Himchan can sense Yongnam’s unhappiness that his brother didn’t come himself. Not for the first time, he extends the invitation if Youngjae wants to stay. When he first joined Yongguk’s pack it might have been a temptation – to have a real pack, brothers on all sides – but now he thinks he never would have felt as safe or welcome there as he does with the family that he’s found, however unorthodox they might be.

“No one would blame you, if you stayed,” Himchan says quietly on the walk back. The night is warmer, quiet, and Youngjae’s skin itches. He longs for home.

“I’d blame me,” he says simply, and they leave it at that.

The money he left on the table is gone, and there’s a ratty backpack next to their suitcase on the floor, and Youngjae feels a moment’s apprehension before the kitten weaves itself between his feet, chirping, and jumps up onto the bed. Himchan frowns, a stern expression that’s about to demand an explanation but before Youngjae can puzzle out any kind of answer he’s interrupted by the shift. Daehyun sits in the kitten’s place, disheveled and gnawing his bottom lip, pulling the sheet up to cover his tan skin. He looks even smaller without his baggy sweatshirt and loose jeans, all skin and bones.

Himchan’s frown smooths out instantly, and he digs into their bag for cleaner clothes than Daehyun’s own, pulling out a t-shirt and a pair of Youngjae’s sweatpants. Daehyun doesn’t hesitate to pull them on.

“I confess I thought we’d see you again,” Himchan says, “but I didn’t imagine it would go quite like this. Did you eat while we were gone?”

Daehyun nods, drawing his knees up to his chest. “I ate.”

“Are you hungry now?” Youngjae asks, solicitous, but Daehyun shakes his head.

“I’m tired,” he mumbles. “I’m… I’m sorry I hid. I should’ve told you it was me, only…”

Himchan shakes his head. “You were frightened. There’s no shame in that.”

When Daehyun can find no answer to that, they get themselves ready for bed. At first Youngjae considers offering to sleep in the pull out sofa, but once they lie down Daehyun squirms in between them again, human this time, and settles like he’s slept there all his life. He tangles himself up with them, half on top of Himchan’s chest, fingers threaded tight with Youngjae’s to keep his arm around his waist, to keep him close against his back. It’s nice, warm and familiar.

“Joonmyeon said it was a blind date,” Daehyun finally whispers, just when Youngjae thinks he might be drifting off. Himchan’s laughter cuts the black quiet of the room.

“That idiot,” he grumbles, “no wonder you were on edge.”

“I mean, it’s kind of like one, isn’t it?” Youngjae asks, and Himchan groans. “No, I mean, we tell someone about ourselves – our pack – they try to decide how likely we are to try and murder them if they see us again…”

“Next time I’m bringing Junhong, you’re not suited for this kind of work.”

Daehyun laughs, shy and small, and Youngjae holds him a little tighter on impulse. He can feel the soft rumble of Daehyun’s purr. 

Youngjae thinks about letting them all sleep, but the words are on his lips before he can. “What made you change your mind? What made you stay?”

“You didn’t let them hurt me,” Daehyun finally answers, his voice quiet. “It’s been so long, I… I just wanted to be safe, for once.”

“You’re safe with us,” Himchan says, reassuring. “You’ll be safe with all of us.”

Daehyun hums, nuzzling into the crook of Himchan’s neck to fall asleep, and Youngjae hopes he believes it.

And in the morning, they go home.


End file.
